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A blog for people who don't want to spend all their free time in the real world. After all, we live and work there. Escape the mundane with books, travel, and writing.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

The Help, by
Kathryn Stockett, was one of those super popular books that actually stood up
to its hype. It was the most interesting
book I've read in a while.

While it wasn't always page-turning, it engaged me
completely. I loved the interesting
perspectives, the harsh historical details, and the completely foreign setting. I loved rooting for the good guys. Parts were absolutely heart-rending, especially
the pain these maids faced, practically raising white kids, loving them, but
all the while waiting until they turn into their prejudiced mothers and
fathers.

Some people have complained that the book misrepresents the
time, the area, the people. I'm not from
the South, so I don't know. I grew up in
a small town in Arizona, where I was never aware of much White-Black tension,
though maybe I was just naïve. I also
wasn't born until a while after the sixties.
So I'm not really qualified to speak to the matter, but I feel that it
was handled well. Neither the maids nor
their employers in The Help were all
saint or sinner. And while the situation
in Jackson (and other places) was ugly in the 60s, I don't think it's something
we should ignore. Prejudice and bigotry
are by no means dead, and the more empathy we can have with each other,
regardless of race, social position, politics, gender, nationality, sexuality,
religion, lifestyle, etc., etc., the better.

As for the dialect, that's been called racist too,
especially since the Whites didn't drawl on paper. I'm really sorry if people took it that way,
but I thought it was really well done.
It wasn't distracting and hard to decipher, as I find much dialect in
writing. I could really hear the
characters' voices.

I watched the movie after the book. While it's a good movie, it can't compare to
the book (of course, what movie can?).

Great premise. Great
details. Great writing. Great job,
Kathryn Stockett.

2 comments:

I also loved the book. I'm reading it a second time, something that I rarely do. I did grow up in the 60's, but in Utah. We didn't have the serious racial problems, but I do remember most of the historic incidences in the South that Kathryn Stockett talks about. The book was very well written, and I could also hear the characters. I thought that Skeeter and Aibileen were both wonderfully written. A very important book! It would be interesting to visit Jackson, Mississippi today and see how much has changed.

About Me

I am first and foremost a writer. My true love is fiction, but I also write articles and personal essays, mostly based on my number two passion: travel. In order to support my travel habits, I have taught English as a Second Language in places like Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic, and exotic Arizona.

Nanowrimo is an international organization that motivates people to write an entire novel (rough draft) in one month. Get 50,000 words down, and you "win." If deadlines help you write, participate this November. nanowrimo.org